


Weight of the World

by ectoPaleontologist



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Point of View, Canon Compliant, Gen, Goodbyes, Implied Chrom/Olivia, Leaving Home, Lucina and Inigo are siblings, The Drama CDs were legit really good and inspired this, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:33:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23610862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ectoPaleontologist/pseuds/ectoPaleontologist
Summary: The Outrealm Gate is open. An army of Risen is swarming the temple. Time is running out. Despite that, Lucina needs a moment before the world she knows, the world she grew up in, the world that was destroyed, is forever out of reach. A few of the others bid farewell, not knowing if they'll ever see each other again or if their mission will be a success. Still, they have to try.
Kudos: 10





	Weight of the World

Despite the rapidly advancing flames and the swirling smoke stinging her throat, Lucina allowed herself a small smile. The sound of bricks collapsing was growing closer, the very stones beneath her feet quivering with each impact. Wooden support beams had fallen down all around her, lapped you by vermillion flames that cast her face in harsh shadows. Before her, she could see her own shadow, a faint silhouette that should have been absorbed by the burning light of the flames had it not been for the Outrealm Gate behind her.

She looked back toward the gate. She saw each of her companions running towards the shimmering cyan portal. They each had looked back at her for a split second, a look of concern, a look of solemn acknowledgment, a look of a silent farewell, a look of an unspoken promise. One by one, they each sprinted through to the other side, their forms each swallowed up by blinding light until they were gone. Gerome and Kjelle stood by, ushering Noire, Yarne, Laurent, Nah, and Cynthia in before running through themselves. Inigo, Severa, and Owain stopped just behind them and looked back at Lucina.

Severa smiled uneasily. “You better not take too long! Destiny isn’t going to change itself you know!” Her typical bitter brand of sass didn’t carry through in her voice this time around, instead replaced by a rare mixture of sincere if not begrudging care and concern.

Lucina gave a weak smile and nodded. Severa’s eyes met Inigo’s and Owain’s. Hastily, she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and clasped her arms around both of them, pulling them in for a tight hug as she clenched her eyes shut. She pulled away, nodded solemnly, and leapt through the Outrealm Gate.

Owain raised his hand in the air in farewell as he said, “You better keep up with your sword training. My blade will eagerly await a worthy opponent, especially if it’s Inigo I find before you.”

Inigo elbowed him as Owain chucked. Lucina couldn’t help but allow herself to laugh too. Owain’s eyes met Lucina’s and they each nodded towards one another. He turned toward Inigo, smiled at him tearfully, and wrapped his arms around him. Inigo hugged him back.

“You better keep strong too,” Owain said. “If I find you with your sword sheathed inviting some maiden to tea again, my sword hand won’t hold back.”

Inigo laughed, letting tears well up in the corners of his eyes. He clapped his hand over Owain’s shoulder, patting him gently before Owain sighed and turned toward the Outrealm Gate. He took a deep breath, puffing his chest out and striking one of his signature battles poses before rushing in.

Finally, Inigo turned towards Lucina, his eyes hung low, his characteristic self-assured, charming smile uncertain now.

“I- I wish I knew what to say.”

“I know, Inigo, I know...” Lucina sighed. “Perhaps the others said it best before: Even if we’re far apart, our souls will still be together.”

Inigo nodded slightly before meeting her eyes again.

“Do you think it will work? That we’ll be able to save them?”

Lucina let her thumb trace over the teardrop-shaped hole at the base of Falchion’s blade, feeling the inscription carved around it. “‘When all is lost, the future still remains.’ It will, that is to say, we have to. We must fight to give them back the lives that were stolen from them, from us, from everyone. It’s up to us to forge that future ourselves, a future of our own making.”

Inigo smiled and chuckled to himself, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye with his thumb.

“Sounds like something Father would have said to rally up the Shepherds. Probably something the Hero King himself would have said too all those centuries ago. Both Mother and Father would be proud if they saw you now.”

Lucina choked back a sob.

“I- Thank you, Inigo. Truly.”

The ground quivered once more, with dust falling from the ceiling now. The wall in the far corner of the room collapsed, the bricks giving way to a view of the grassy rise of Mount Prism and the gently lapping ocean waves beyond, illuminated by brilliant, pale moonlight. A gentle breeze wafted in, the cool air softly brushing past Lucina’s cheeks.

“A beautiful sight, if I may say so myself,” Inigo mused. “Though, I do believe it will look better under the sun... and with everyone there to see it.”

Lucina stared through the hole as she said, “I agree. Perhaps Mother and Father could join us there too. I can only hope.”

“Me too... me too.”

The sound of the temple collapsing grew louder, closer, as did the constant, raspy growls of Risen, bringing the daydreaming to an end.

Lucina looked back at Inigo, meeting his eyes as she said, “I’ll be right behind you. Take care, little brother. I’ll always be right by your side.”

He smiled gently as he said, “Farewell, Luce. See you at supper.”

With that, Inigo gave a quick salute before turning and jogging through the Outrealm Gate.

Lucina was all alone now. She was likely the last living soul in the Halidom if not the world now. In truth, she didn’t know if she’d see the others again, or if they’d even be able to return to this world, or if they’d even succeed in challenging fate itself. She didn’t know how long she would be alone, or if she would be able to see her mother and father smile once more, and or if she was worthy of bearing the name of the Hero King himself, but she had to try, she had to hope, no matter how much it hurt.

The ground quivered again. Through the collapsed wall, she could see lightning shatter darkened clouds, a massive serpentine shadow revealed for a split second as the sky flashed with sickly purple light: Grima. The hollow, raspy growls of Risen soldiers grew clearer. A moment later, she could hear banging upon the barricaded door. Instinctively, she grit her teeth and gripped Falchion in her hand. The sound of an otherworldly shriek calling out in the distant clouds convinced her to reconsider.

She felt her hands and feet start to go numb, the weightless sensation slowly spreading up her arms and legs as she struggled to steady her breath. Her hand trembled around the leather bound hilt, the other quivering in the air. She felt her free hand graze against something hanging on her hip. It was the butterfly mask, the same one that Gerome crafted that Severa chose for her. She rolled her thumb over the cool, smooth surface before holding it gently before her in both hands.

She looked over at the Outrealm Gate and then again at the collapsed wall. Lightning flashed again, with the shadowy form of the Fell Dragon himself drawing nearer. She took a deep breath and put on the mask before tucking her hair beneath her collar. The wooden door began to crack and bulge more and more with each successive pound. Taking that as her cue, she turned toward the Outrealm Gate and started to sprint full speed towards it. As soon as she did so, she heard the barricade give way with a burst, Risen soldiers snarling and scuffling as they poured into the chamber. More burning support beams collapsed with bricks falling down around her and shattering. Nonetheless, with long, forceful strides, she pressed forward.

_Mother, Father, everyone, I will save you. I’ll save every last one of us if I can help it._

The image of Ylisstol flashed in her head, of how she saw it last, with the once white towering walls of the castle reduced to rubble blackened by flames. Where there were the familiar faces of villagers and royal guards were now the pale faces of Risen with glowing scarlet eyes, black smoke pouring out of their moaning mouths. Where there was her father, standing on the balcony and waving to all the townspeople below with a courteous smile under the light of the sun, was now an overwhelming empty void under an ominous sky. It was a void she knew she was destined to fill one day, but not like this.

_To my beloved Halidom of Ylisse, I will rewrite your story. Father, I will save you this time around, I promise._

She didn’t know what lay for her on the other side of the Outrealm Gate, but with both the weight of a fallen world and one that had not yet fallen on her shoulders, she ran through the gate.

Lucina was enveloped by powerful, pale blue light. Her stride became a leap as gravity took absence. A warm, faintly electric sensation wrapped around the surface of her body. She saw blinding streaks of white, turquoise, cyan, and magenta shoot past her at speeds she couldn’t comprehend. Before her she saw what appeared to be a myriad of stars scatter before her before collapsing in upon themselves into a single point. That point expanded into a massive disc of brilliant blue light with emerald flecks, its center a dark, narrow slit.

Gravity returned and she found herself falling toward the slit in space. On the other side she saw a forest, and in the forest two people she hadn’t seen in years, whose appearances she had mostly remembered from paintings at this point: a young woman with blonde twin tails in a yellow dress, and a taller young man in a white and navy blue uniform with the same shade of hair as her. It was Lissa and Chrom. They were in the middle of fighting off two Risen soldiers, with Chrom managing for himself and Lissa running away for cover. Lucina grit her teeth and reached out her hand towards them. This is where history would be rewritten.


End file.
